Metro Phoenix area home buyers catch a break as more affordable inventory rises

Phoenix home prices hold steady

The number of new home listings in the Metro Phoenix area jumped 78 percent from December, according to the Arizona Regional Multiple Listing Service (ARMLS), good news for prospective home buyers.

Houses in Phoenix are currently listing at more affordable prices than we’ve seen in two years. While it’s still a seller’s market, Valley home prices are holding steady instead of rising as was the case in February 2018. After months of low inventory triggered fierce bidding wars that drove home prices up, Phoenix buyers are once again able to find properties priced below $300,000.

Photo: Home Builder Digest

A shortage of homes priced for first-time buyers instigated a towering seller’s market as prices climbed about 7 percent in 2018 and 7.5 percent in 2017.

The median sale price for a Phoenix-area home in January 2019 was $262,100, according to The Information Market’s latest ARMLS report. The median as been hovering around $262,000 since October 2018, down from the record $268,000 in June 2018, but up from $260,000 in September.

Home buyers catch a break

After competing with investors for properties priced around the area’s median for so long, first -time buyers are back in the running as recent homes for sale priced below $250,000. One reason for the increased inventory and price reductions is that many of the investors and flippers buying up properties in 2017 and 2018 are ready to sell the homes they purchased in a lower price range. Real-estate agents are also discovering that first-time buyers have become more selective about what they will pay for a “fixer-upper.”

No housing crash in store

Still, Valley home prices are predicted to climb at a slower pace or possibly flatten out in 2019, so would-be buyers who are looking for metro Phoenix home prices to plummet as they did during the 2008-11 real estate bust are unlikely to become homeowners this year. Real estate analysts who base their predictions on analytical data say none of the predictors such as subprime loans and rising foreclosures are issues now. In fact, Valley area median home prices are expected to rise to $264,000 over the next month.

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